FREEDOM OF CITY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 40, 16 February 1945, Page 5

FREEDOM OF CITY

CHURCHILL IN ATHENS

British Leader's Speech Deliriously Cheered

Rec. 10 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 15. Mr. Churchill received the freedom of the city of Athens at a ceremony at the British Embassy in the Greek capital. Stadium Street, the busiest and most central thoroughfare in Athens, has been renamed Churchill Street. The Anglo-Greek Chamber of Commerce is raising a fund in Greece to erect a statue to Mr. Churchill in one of the main squares of Athens "in recognition of his friendship and support for the rights of Greece." "These are great days. The dawn is bright and the darkness rolls away. A great future lies before your country." This statement was made in Athens by Mr. Churchill, who broke his journey home from the Crimea Conference, when he addressed a crowd of between 20,000 and 25,000 Greeks assembled in Constitution Square yesterday afternoon. The Prime Minister spoke into a microphone mounted on the palace balustrade overlooking the unknown soldiers' tomb. Beside him stood the Regent, Archbishop Damaskinos; the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Eden; the British Minister at Mediterranean Headquarters, Mr. Harold Macmillan; the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, Field-Mar-shal Alexander; the British Minister in Athens, Mr. R. W. A. Leeper; the British Commander-in-Chief in Greece, Lieutenant-General R. Scobie. The entire Greek Cabinet stood with the group. "There have been much misunderstanding and ignorance of our common cause in many parts of the world and there has been misrepresentation of the issues fought out in Athens," said Mr. Churchill, "but now these matters are clearing and there is an understanding of the part Greece has played and will play in the world. "I am very proud of the part which the British Army played in protecting this . great immortal city from violence.

"Our two countries have long marched along dusty and hard roads, united in friendship and loyalty. The freedom, prosperity and happiness of the Greek people are dear to all the nations of the British Commonwealth. We who have been associated with you in every struggle for Greek liberty will march with you until you reach the end of the dark valley and reach the broad highlands of justice." Delirious cheering followed every sentence of Mr. Churchill's speech as it was translated phrase by phrase through loud-speakers.